For when I need more than 140 characters to finish a thought on marketing, media or message.

Tag Archives: viral

EDITOR’S NOTE:This post was originally published in July 2011. I’m reposting as a courtesy to the readers who arrived here after googling Ms. Feiss.

It’s amazing the distractions a student can find doing research on YouTube. I stumbled on one of Apple’s 2002 “Switch” ads, TBWA\Chiat\Day‘s followup campaign to 1998’s “Think Different.” The “Switch” ads, directed by Errol Morris, supposedly featured real people who had switched from a PC to a Mac, “telling their story in their own words,” according to the press release. The ads were simple, shot against a white background, and were ripe for parodying.

In this clip, high school student Ellen Feiss tells us how she lost a “really good paper” while working on her PC. And although the success of the “Switch” campaign has been debated, it’s nine years later and I remember Ellen Feiss and her paper. I bet others do, too — which should settle any question over the campaign’s success.

Consider this: It’s hard to remember in 2011 how difficult that sort of imprint would have been to achieve for Apple, despite its re-emergence in the market the late 1990s with the iMac G3. PCs still ruled in 2002; the iPod — having been released only in late 2001 — had not yet saturated mainstream society. There was no iPhone. Tech was not that personal yet. The term “viral marketing” wasn’t used in everyday conversation. YouTube was still three years away. Even so, Apple and Morris got our attention and piqued our curiosity: “Have you seen the new Apple ad? What’s up with that girl? Is she real? Is she high?” Despite the speculation, we were interested in what she had to say — and we knew the brand she was promoting and still do.

ED’S NOTE:The commentary here reflects my interest in advertising as a marketing student. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.

It’s amazing the distractions a student can find doing research on YouTube. I stumbled on one of Apple’s 2002 “Switch” ads, TBWA\Chiat\Day‘s followup campaign to 1998’s “Think Different.” The “Switch” ads, directed by Errol Morris, supposedly featured real people who had switched from a PC to a Mac, “telling their story in their own words,” according to the press release. The ads were simple, shot against a white background, and were ripe for parodying.

In this clip, high school student Ellen Feiss tells us how she lost a “really good paper” while working on her PC. And although the success of the “Switch” campaign has been debated, it’s nine years later and I remember Ellen Feiss and her paper. I bet others do, too — which should settle any question over the campaign’s success.

Consider this: It’s hard to remember in 2011 how difficult that sort of imprint would have been to achieve for Apple, despite its re-emergence in the market the late 1990s with the iMac G3. PCs still ruled in 2002; the iPod — having been released only in late 2001 — had not yet saturated mainstream society. There was no iPhone. Tech was not that personal yet. The term “viral marketing” wasn’t used in everyday conversation. YouTube was still three years away. Even so, Apple and Morris got our attention and piqued our curiosity: “Have you seen the new Apple ad? What’s up with that girl? Is she real? Is she high?” Despite the speculation, we were interested in what she had to say — and we knew the brand she was promoting and still do.

Here’s some background for the Little Monsters: Weird Al wanted to do include his parody of the Lady Gaga song Born This Way on his new album. There was a failure to communicate, and well, long story short, now there’s a new video going viral.

At the time of this writing, Perform This Way has 465,322. Trey Barrineau says when he broke the story Wednesday that the video had 300 views on YouTube.

ED’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest in advertising as a marketing student. It does not endorse any product, services or agency. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.

Kenny Powers is back hawking K-Swiss Tubes during the sweat-soaked, beer-stained, testosterone-fueled insanity that is March Madness.

Yes, this news is about as fresh as a towel on a locker room floor — I have to admit that I had forgotten about our loveable anti-hero and his side job for K-Swiss (NASDAQ: KSWS). Even so, I want to quickly examine the most recent leg of the campaign I wrote about last summer. “Tournageddon” is a balls-to-the-wall social-media push that starts on Facebook and ends up on Yahoo Fantasy Sports.

Fans can submit their picks, pore over team analyses, get recaps filled with Kenny’s insights and — ultimately — they can spend more times him and his Tubes. And when fans are done killing time mourning their busted brackets, they can download the Muscle Machine app from iTunes or let Kenny manage their Facebook page with the Workout Wingman app. The idea behind the Wingman app is you’ll be “training in K-SWISS Tubes like a true frickin’ champion” instead of Facebooking (fat chance) and Kenny will answer your friends’ posts (“You’re f-in’ OUT, MOM!”).

Since I last wrote about Kenny Powers and Tubes, the Tubes site has been overhauled with a very masculine red and black theme. Very fiery. Powerful. Like Hell. Makes me want to go buy some Axe body wash or something. Lame jokes aside, it’s a very comprehensive e-commerce portal: Shoppers can customize a pair of Tubes, watch the very funny advertising spots featuring Patrick Willis and Jeremy Shockey, connect with Kenny on Facebook and Yahoo, and even order season one of Eastbound & Down, the critically acclaimed six episodes that introduced us to a foul-mouthed has-been ballplayer that somehow stole our hearts.

I think what I appreciate most about the Tubes campaign is how all the copy maintains Kenny’s voice, such as it is outside of the HBO series, while promoting the athletic shoes. It’s unlikely actor/Kenny creator Danny McBride was available to whip up copy for 72andSunny, the agency behind the Tubes campaign, so props to the writers for keeping Kenny real and an appropriate PG-13. He’s still a crass buffoon, even when he’s not dropping the f-bomb after every third utterance.

Finally, here’s Kenny in the spot “Gravity,” featuring New Orleans tight end Jeremy Shockey. I had planned to post this a long time ago, but I couldn’t find it and then I eventually lost interest. Perhaps the lackluster second season of Eastbound & Down played a role in my forgetfulness.

Conan O’Brien’s folks skewer advertising and Apple, serving up a disturbingly accurate and hilariously funny spot for the iPad2. I don’t think this is what Steve Jobs had in mind for promoting the updated tablet.

AdAge.com is reporting that the viral sensation “Digital Story of the Nativity” has made the third-biggest video debut of 2010. First was Old Spice’s “Responses” campaign, grabbing 35 million-plus views, followed by Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl,” which bagged 17.8 million eyeballs in February.

At the time of this writing, the video had 8,286,353 views on YouTube.